The United States beat the Netherlands, who famously won gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris after a sensational anchor sprint from Femke Bol, with a championship record time of 3:08.80.
The Dutch, who finished with a time of 3:09.96, can be very happy with the silver medal, Bol said after the event.
"The media see the relay team as legendary, but that cannot be the case every tournament. We have now won a very impressive silver medal," Bol told the NOS about the second silver medal at the 4x400m in the country's history.
Bol recalled details of a chaotic final, in which two opponents stood on her foot. "There were athletes all around me," she said.
"Someone stepped on my foot, which doesn't happen often. But all in all, it was a fun challenge. It was just a little too close to catch up with America, but silver is also a great achievement."
Colleague Lieke Klaver underlined that the team are happy with second place, suggesting that the media lifted expectations for the Olympic medalists.
"I'm afraid that we convey that impression to the Dutch public," said Klaver. "But that's not how we feel. We're happy, everyone ran a good race. The level of competition in the 4x400 metres gets higher every year, every year is different."
'Other teams have stronger men'
Bol and Klaver headline the mixed relay team, which is completed by Eugene Omalla and Jonas Phijffers, who replaced gold medalist Isaya Klein Ikkink.
Bol, the reigning 400m hurdles world champion, acknowledged that other teams have stronger men in the lineup, but that Omalla and Phijffers, who debuted at the worlds, ran strong races.
"Many other teams have stronger men, but our two men are extremely important. Jonas really stood his ground in a difficult race," said Bol.
"Last year, Eugene (Omalla) competed in the Olympics for the first time and won gold. Today, Jonas ran in a World Championship for the first time. People sometimes underestimate how impressive that is. That's another reason why we can be happy and proud of this silver medal."